- US Congress to discuss App Store Accountability Act on December 2
- Pinterest, Meta and X support the bill, but Apple and Google have concerns
- Congress debates a total of 19 bills focused on child online safety
Policymakers around the world have been busy strengthening children’s safety online in 2025, and the United States is no exception.
So far, US states have taken matters into their own hands (Missouri was the last to implement its age verification law) and Congress has lagged behind. However, lawmakers are eager to catch up at the federal level and are set to discuss a large set of proposals today focused on child safety.
Among them, the App Store Accountability Act (ASA) It worries Apple and Google, despite having had the support of companies like Meta, X and now Pinterest.
Following the lead of Utah, Texas and California, the bill was introduced in May by Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and Representative John James (R-MI), and seeks to shift responsibility to App Store providers. Under the legislation, Google and Apple will be in charge of providing protections for minors, including verifying their age in a way that preserves privacy and limiting access to applications if they are considered too young.
Apple and Google, however, have expressed concerns about the level of data sharing required by the ASA and similar laws. “These proposals introduce new risks to children’s privacy, without truly addressing the harms that are inspiring policymakers to act,” Google wrote.
It’s also unclear how these requirements will hold up in court, as Texas’ app store age verification law (expected to come into effect in January 2026) is being challenged with two lawsuits.
What is certain is that if ASA is passed, it will be much more difficult for people to use a virtual private network (VPN) or similar tools to protect their data and circumvent the rules.
19 bills on child safety will be discussed
The ASA is far from the only bill currently being considered. The House Energy and Commerce subcommittee is hearing a total of 19 proposals on this issue today. These include another controversial bill, the Child Online Safety Act (KOSA), after it returned to Congress in May.
Experts at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) have warned that this proposal, which would require online service providers to protect minors from a huge range of online harms, could end up making the Internet worse for everyone.
“Legislators who support KOSA today are choosing to trust the current administration, and future administrations, to define what young people – and to some extent, all of us – should be allowed to read online,” they wrote.
Another bill that will be discussed is the SCREEN Act, or Protecting Children’s Retinas from Egregious Online Exposure. This follows similar rules implemented in some states and points to the introduction of age verification measures for adults-only websites and apps.
While federal guidelines could fix what experts have called a “state-by-state legal mess,” familiar issues around people’s privacy, data security and the right to free speech will remain. We’ll wait and see if lawmakers manage to strike the right balance this time.
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